During this week, Recreation and Parks will provide trained staff to help facilitate participation of children with disabilities in camp activities, and provide some great new specialized activities as well. We invite you to register for any week at camp, but we encourage you to consider choosing Inclusion Week! We are confident the enhanced activities will benefit children with and without disabilities, as well as offer all the children the opportunity to make new friends! If you register for this week, please indicate on the lottery registration if your child has a disability. If you receive a reservation, our Inclusion Services Coordinator will contact you for more information.
Thanks to the over 1,800 families who applied for the upcoming Camp Mather season! Until we are finished processing all reservations, we are not able to let you know if you received a reservation. We hope to mail out rental information in mid-March, and our goal is for all families … Continue reading →
We’ve just updated the summer waiting list. Click the Waiting List as of 5/10/13 link under Links and Docs.
Remember, there’s still some available cabins for Week 1 (June 1-8). Reservations for June 1-8 only can be booked by calling Bridget at (415) 831-2765.
At 39, Maia Hendel might seem a tad old to be heading off to camp. But she has been practicing camp songs and thinking about canoe trips right alongside her sons and husband. They’re all eagerly preparing for “family camp” on Aug. 3.
Such sleep-away camps for adults and kids alike are part of a growing vacation trend. Like most camps, they generally feature the great outdoors, simple accommodations and a dining hall. But they uniquely give grown-ups and children time to commune with one another as well as nature, while leaving cellphones, computers and the Internet at home in exchange for true family time.
Family camps grew 11% over the past four years and really took off about a decade ago, says Tish Bolger, president of the American Camp Association in Martinsville, Ind. She estimates that today, there are about 700 family camps within the association, out of 7,000 overnight camps and 5,000 day camps.
They come in many flavors: religious camps, camps for families with adopted children from abroad, camps for families who speak specific languages, camps for families with disabled kids and camps for alumni of specific universities. What links them is that they provide a place where families can “unplug and then plug into each other,” Bolger says.
The Hendels are heading to Camp du Nord, a YMCA camp in Ely, Minn. After a six-hour drive from their home in Mendota Heights, Minn., they’ll park the car and not touch it again for a week.
“They talk about it all year,” Hendel says of sons Quinn, 7, and Wesley, 5. “They love the freedom of just being able to go out the cabin door and run around and say, ‘Oh, we’ll meet you at the dining hall.’”
There are organized activities in the mornings for children, but the focus is making time for families to be outdoors together. “If you would rather just take a canoe ride with your family than go to an organized singalong, it’s fine,” Hendel says.
A country getaway
Family camps also offer an alternative for parents who aren’t ready to let their kids go off for a week or two on their own at sleep-away camp. “It doesn’t get better than actually going to camp with your kids if you’re the type of parent who hovers,” says syndicated newspaper columnist Amy Masini, who writes about families.
Traditional sleep-away camps also have embraced the trend. Many now offer a week or two of family camp each summer, Bolger says, providing the opportunity for “a first-time camper’s parent to experience camp with their children before letting them explore it on their own.”
Many cities, especially in California, run family camps, too, to give urban families a chance to unwind in the fresh air. Berkeley, Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose and Stockton all own camps.
San Francisco’s is called Camp Mather, and every summer since my children were toddlers, we’ve spent a week there, just at the edge of Yosemite National Park. Established in 1924, Mather is pretty basic. Accommodations consist of plywood cabins with one electric light, one outlet, a dresser and plastic mattresses on cots. There’s a separate bathhouse with showers and toilets, and we bring our own bedding and towels.
Mather provides three meals a day at the dining hall, a pool with lifeguards, a soccer/baseball field for pickup games, ping-pong tables, a tennis court, badminton, a lake to swim in, a sand beach to build sandcastles on and hikes galore.
What it lacks is what we love most — no cellphone service and no Internet access. Parents slow down and kids rev up into the kind of old-fashioned childhood that’s all too rare these days. Every year, we spread out a puzzle on the picnic table outside our cabin, and people stop by to chat and work on it awhile. Inside the cabin, we enjoy raucous card games.
At Camp Mather, our city kids, ages 10 and 12, blossom in ways they can’t at home, where cars make biking on their own impossible and where the thought of letting them wander at will is hard to imagine.
Other families feel the same. Being at Mather gives Anna Livesey’s two children “independence and freedom, which they don’t get enough of in the city,” says the stay-at-home mother, who’s on her second visit here. The camp feels like a large, extended family, she says. “We don’t know everyone, but I still feel safe letting my 8-year-old be MIA.”
Horseshoe games fill the late-afternoon stillness. There’s always a staff vs. camper baseball game, and on Friday night, there’s a dance. It hasn’t changed much over the years, says Bob Mahoney, 65, a retired San Francisco police officer. “We’ve been coming here since the 1970s. We came when our kids were little, now we come when our grandkids come.”
Reservations are by an online lottery, and about 5,000 lucky San Franciscans attend one of 11 week-long summer sessions. “It’s the luck of the draw who gets in,” says camp manager Mike Cunnane. Mather is also a relatively cheap vacation: A week in a four-person cabin with all meals included is just $362 each.
We are currently working on updating all of the Camp Mather reservation information for the upcoming summer. We hope to have this information available to you in early December. Registration for the Camp Mather Lottery will open on January 6, 2014 and be open for 6 weeks, closing on February … Continue reading →
Campers, registration for the 2014 Camp Mather lottery opens January 6! Thanks to the efforts of the SF Fire Department, the SF Public Utilities Commission, local and state agencies, and our own camp staff, Camp Mather in the High Sierras largely survived the Rim Fire that devastated the Yosemite and Stanislaus National Forest area earlier this year. Although impact from the fire no doubt remains, we are actively planning for the 2014 camp season and Mather’s 90th Anniversary celebration. Don’t delay – registration for the lottery closes on Friday, February 7th.
Go to sfreconline.org to register beginning January 6th.
Campers: registration for the 2014 Camp Mather lottery begins January 6! Thanks to the efforts of the SF Fire Department, the SF Public Utilities Commission, local and state agencies, and our own camp staff, Camp Mather in the High Sierras largely survived the Rim Fire that devastated the Yosemite and Stanislaus National Forest area earlier this year. Although impact from the fire no doubt remains, we are actively planning for the 2014 camp season and Mather’s 90th Anniversary celebration. Click here for more information on how to register.
At Recreation and Parks we believe that everybody should get out and play —Including at Camp Mather!
Don’t wait! Registration is open now, and closes on February 7
Inclusion Week Details:
During this week, Recreation and Parks will provide trained staff, and staff fluent in ASL, to help facilitate participation of family members who are Deaf/hard of hearing or who have disabilities. Our inclusion staff will provide some great specialized activities as well! We invite you to register for any week at camp, but we encourage you to consider choosing Inclusion Week! The specialized activities and inclusiveness benefit all families at camp, as well as offering everyone the chance to make new friends! When you register, be sure to indicate that you have a family member who is Deaf/hard of hearing, or who has a disability, by checking “I have a family member who has a disability” on the registration form. If you receive a reservation, we will contact you with more information.
Inclusion Week is the first week of camp, May 31-June 7, 2014
In Person Lottery Registration: April 28,29,30 thru May 1, 2, 3 from 10:00AM to 2:00PM
In Person Registration ONLY (You must be present to register) at the Golden Gate Park Senior Center -Front Office- 6101 Fulton Ave. @ 37th Ave, SF, CA 94121
About Senior Get-A-Way to Camp Mather
The Senior Get-A-Way to Camp Mather allows those who are unable to drive the freedom to travel in the safety and comfort of a bus, while reducing our carbon footprint. We will take a day trip to Yosemite National Park to enjoy this beautiful natural wonder.
Relax and play on a four-night nature adventure. You will be staying in a cozy cabin with electricity and furnished with beds, dressers, chairs, and a picnic table. Participants bring your own bedding (such as a sleeping bag), towels, etc. Upon acceptance into camp, you will want to attend camp orientation to learn more details about camp. The bathrooms and showers are located in well lit bathhouses, a short walk from your cabin. Our meals will be served cafeteria style with a separate fresh salad bar and refreshment bars in our historic dining hall. Staff will provide daily activities such as crafts, hikes, water aerobics as well as fun evening activities such as movies, talent shows, informative lectures and campfires. You are allowed 3 items of luggage (1 carry-on, 1 soft suitcase/duffle/or closable bag, and one sleeping bag) if traveling on a bus. Registered participants are invited to attend a pre-camp Camp Orientation to learn more details about Camp Mather.
August Pick Up/Drop Off Bus Sites: Sunset Playground, Golden Gate Park Senior Center, and Upper Noe Recreation Center
Important Information
If you are signing up as an individual without listing a roommate’s name, then you will be placed with another independent cabin partner of the same gender. All cabins will be occupied by at least two campers. No exceptions.
The elevation up at Camp Mather is 4,600 feet. August weather can range from dry and hot during the day to cold at night. August Session can accommodate 200 campers.
REFUND POLICY: If you cancel your registration 30 days prior to the session, the withdrawal fee will be $51.40 (per person). If you cancel your registration less than 30 days prior to the session, there will be NO REFUNDS.
Contact Info
For further information contact Katherine, Citywide Senior Services Coordinator at
(415) 518-7725
katherine.hill@sfgov.org
Please click here for an update on your Camp Mather Lottery Application.
Also, this Saturday, March 15th is our Summer Day Camp registration opening. Please consider registering for a Rec & Park summer day camp even if you have registered for the lottery. If you receive a reservation for Camp Mather through the lottery process, and you have already signed up your child or children for a conflicting session of a Rec & Park Summer Day Camp, we will allow you to withdraw from that day camp without a fee, as long as you withdraw within 1 week of receiving your Camp Mather reservation, or no later than May 1st. Continue reading →
Please click here for a special message from SFRPD General Manager, Phil Ginsburg.
We will be mailing out reservation contracts and waiting list letters
on Friday, March 28th.
We thank you all so much for your patience! Continue reading →
Click here to see the Waiting List. Remember: only the people with lower numbers, wanting the same week and cabin size are actually in front of you. Continue reading →
The Friends of Camp Mather, in partnership with San Francisco Recreation & Parks, cordially invites you to Camp Mather’s 90th Anniversary Party & Rim Fire Benefit on Saturday, September 20, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., at the newly renovated boathouse at Lake Merced.
Silent and Live Auction & Live Music
Wine, beer, soft drinks, hors d’oeuvres & cake
We will also be honoring the SF Firefighters who helped save the Camp from the Rim Fire. Proceeds from the Benefit will go toward making the Camp safer from future fires.
Tickets are $50 each and only 200 can be sold for this event on a first-come, first-serve basis. (Donations are also gratefully accepted!)
2015 Summer Family Camp Mather lottery registration opens January 2! Go online to sfreconline.org today to apply for a chance to have family vacation at Camp Mather this summer! For questions about applying, call the Mather reservation desk at (415) 831-2715 or email matherreservations@sfgov.org.
